This blog is about a three-year total refit of Oceanus, our 1971 Columbia 43, turning this classic Bill Tripp racer into a comfortable and fast cruising boat. We left Newport, Ore., in February 2016 and sailed to Southern California and Mexico. We are now in Hawaii and plan to cruise these beautiful islands before returning to the Northwest.

Friday, April 25, 2014

Virginia went back and forth about whether Oceanus needed curtains to cover the two large deadlights in the main saloon. Then she saw a video from our friends at Sailrite and we both liked the idea.

The library easy chair on top of a fiberglass deck step made a good sewing seat while the double bunk made for a roomy work surface.

Virginia chose a sand-colored furniture fabric made by Sunbrella for the curtains. It goes well with the other fabrics on the boat and is what we used to cover the part of the mast that shows below deck.

While I worked on fitting a new teak sole in the main saloon, Virginia set up her small sewing machine on our bunk. The big Sailrite sewing machine weighs 78 pounds and would be overkill for this project. She used a dock step with our big deck chair on top. The combo worked well enough and in less than a day she sewed both pair of curtains.

We installed upper and lower rails above and below the deadlights. The lower rail keeps the bottom of the curtains in place so they don't swing back and forth with the movement of the boat.